Topic: Corona Virus Panic/Discussion Thread

We will definitely have another wave of Coronavirus. Everyone I work with struggles with distancing and are taking it way too lightly.

I heard someone say 'let's stop play pretend' yesterday.

Once the shops open up its gonna be a free for all.

@Arugula In work there are 3 out of say 70 people who have had a positive test that I know of. No one died but one of our accounts team had a horrendous time. I had a rough experience which has led to medical complications. Our colleague seemed to have just had a chesty cough. Evidence right there of bad news yet we have to 'stop playing pretend'. Labelled as a drama queen.

My mums in a care home, she's pretty cool and healthy for a 70 year old. I can't say the same for the other residents, very frail and weak. They would get hit hard.

@themcnoisy Yeah, my sister moved in with my Nana and Papa in January since she was made redundant in Dundee so had to come home. Then Coronavirus hit and none of them have left the house since March. Looking like October before they can leave the house but people just have to have their far-right rallies in Parliament Square without wearing masks and make lockdown last even longer than it already is 🙄

Yeah, I think people have just chosen to accept the risk rather than continue the inconvenience of not being able to socialize. Especially the younger population.

Time will tell if that’s the correct decision. Good for the economy but I hope we don’t end up with packed hospitals and all the ventilators full again.

@Arugula I’m with you, I would just as soon society stays with social distancing as a permanent fixture. I’d rather stay home and away from people too.

@Th3solution The problem is that the risk isn't putting yourself in danger, but someone else.

The impact this is going to have on healthcare in the UK (and beyond) is going to be immense. We're having to keep distancing, cleaning of equipment etc up as though we are still in the peak and this is causing issues. Plus, there's a huge backlog of issues from cancer referrals to routine ops that have been suspended for months and some of that will be impacted for a long time to come. The worry over patients potentially having Covid is also going to mean more and more people dumped into A&E to sort problems out.

Where I work, our capacity for CT, MRI, and ultrasound imaging is going to be around 2/3s what it was beforehand and this is going to cause massive issues. The last few months are almost going to feel like a holiday for us compared with what's coming.

@Thrillho I fear that even after we’ve got a vaccine and there are no new cases. The number of people with new chronic conditions caused either directly or indirectly by Corvid is likely to be greater than those with underlying health conditions who died in the pandemic.

@Octane Yeah, I keep trying to tell friends and co-workers who are lackadaisical about precautions because they’re in an age group and health status whose chance of serious illness is tiny, that I understand that they aren’t likely to suffer from COVID19, but their parents, grandparents, or friend with diabetes will. Not to mention it will come back to affect them when the hospitals are full and then they get into a car accident they won’t have any place to get treated for serious injury.
Most people won’t listen to reason though. There are just a whole lot of selfish and entitled people, that’s all. It seems few people care about their neighbor or fellow humans. So we’ll get what we get. And it appears that will be a second spike and we may have to live through March again.

@Thrillho @Ryall I wonder if there is data about how many deaths there have been as a secondary effect of the pandemic. How many have died not from coronavirus infection but from something else but couldn’t get treated (or refused to leave their home out of fear of exposure to seek treatment), but would have otherwise had a curable condition? I know it’s got to be happening.

@Th3solution Most of the focus in the UK (outside of the government anyway) has been on "excess deaths" rather than ones listed directly as due to Covid.

This has been put out by the Office of National Statistics and shows how many total deaths we've had over the average for this period over the last five years. It's pretty grim viewing and the idea is it takes much more into account than just the virus directly. It makes it around 60,000 rather than the 40,000 "official" figure.

I never saw much of a difference in outside population when I was rarely in town, usually just go straight to work and back home, never leaving the house since my Mom runs most of our errands.

Hopefully alot more people will take the inevitable Wave Two more seriously, without the death toll climbing too much.

Especially since I work in a crammed Amazon warehouse, always seeing ALOT of co-workers (and even Managers/Leads/Saftey etc) hugging/high fiving and disrespecting the 6 feet rule.

@Arugula I’m just wondering with Florida being in the midst of becoming the next hotspot if it will now alter the whole “bubble plan” for the NBA to play out the season and playoffs at Disney ESPN complex Orlando.

@Arugula Lmao, the MLB’s coronavirus rules are hilarious. You’d think that sport would be an afterthought when the bodies are piling up but hey, billionaires stand to lose some dosh.

@Arugula The only sport I’ve seen coming out of this the better for it is probably F1. The players took the time on the simulators to reach out to fans and they seem a lot more human and have built up a bigger following due to it. They’re getting ready to race for real but the sport should be alright for social distancing and stuff.

@nessisonett @Arugula I agree that I have very little sympathy for multimillionaires and billionaires that are still going to make more money in one year than I will make in my entire lifetime, especially when there are so many worse situations of businesses being put on hold or bankrupt from the pandemic. Still, I do like to partake in spectator sports every so often and it is part of some of these players’ legacy. The average NBA or NFL career is probably only 5-6 years so it’s a big chunk of that time if they lose a year or two.

But the real depressing thing is for the Olympians who may not be able to compete because of the delay. Some of them are already at the end of their athletic prime and a full year is enough to wipe them of their last (and often only) chance at glory. And since they are mostly all amateurs, there is no payday if they don’t win and get endorsements.

Still, many people are struggling and losing their jobs. I feel for them all. Some businesses are getting killed by this thing — large venue entertainment types of businesses, movie theaters, restaurants, bars, clubs, hotels, and mass transportation business, to name a few. And strangely, some businesses are making bank from the pandemic — like internet and computer based companies, streaming services, delivery companies like Amazon and such, sellers of sanitizers, masks, and gloves... etc, etc.

I had forgotten about coronavirus. Until my best mates mum died of it and he's been told to isolate but came round off his head.

So frustrating. And still in my work one of my colleagues said 'they don't really believe in it'. It's as if the only way someone will accept its a thing is if there nearest and dearest die of it.

Here's a longer video of the best one

lmao

@themcnoisy A lot of people are like that. They just go about their business, refusing to change their behavior or examine their own prejudices, until reality gives them no other choice. In this case, by the time that happens, the damage of their willful ignorance is already done.

As hardline as it sounds, I really think we should create a hard border with England until this calms down because Scotland’s almost Covid-free. No deaths were recorded the last two days yet England still has hundreds of cases every day. The danger for us now is imported cases, whether that’s abroad or domestic. If the two Parliaments got on then I reckon it would have been easier but Boris won’t want to give those kinda powers to Holyrood when there’s still a big Independence movement.

@Arugula Arizona is close behind with 7,450 cases and 119 deaths today.

@Arugula Definitely. I mean, look, I get it. Masks suck. Nobody likes wearing masks. But some sacrifices need to be made to ensure a greater communal good.

That lady that expressed disbelief at the idea of people wanting her to experience discomfort as part of an effort to ensure a greater social good, btw? That's America in a nutshell. And it's why, with or without our current leadership, we'd likely still be bungling this virus response to some degree.

National emergencies demand a public that is willing to make small sacrifices to achieve greater gains, and we're not a people that are willing to do that anymore. Decades have been spent with our people listening to misinformation and propaganda guised as news. We've tolerated and normalized the uncontrolled growth of corporate power and the worsening of socioeconomic inequalities. Our country is so divided now that even the simple act of mask-wearing has become a sort of political statement.

Also, lol. I wish I lived in a country where the new cases numbered in the hundreds. It's going to be funny when other countries get over this and then impose travel restrictions on American tourism because of how badly we've mismanaged this situation.